Thread-guide for knitting-machines



(No Model.)

' W. ROBERTS.

THREAD GUIDE FOR KNITTING MACHINES.

Patented Dec. 15, 1891.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

IVALTER ROBERTS, OF HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT.

THREAD-GUIDE FOR KNITTING-MACHINES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 464,995, dated December15, 1891.

Application filed August 4, 1890. Serial No. 361,021. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, WVALTER ROBERTS, of Hartford, in the county ofHartford and State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Thread-Guides for Knitting-Machines, of which thefollowing is a full, clear, and exact description, whereby any oneskilled in the art can make and use thesame.

My invention relates to the class of knitting-machines in which athread-guide is used to hold and locate the thread in making thestitches in the operation of knitting. The needles in such a machine arearranged in a plane parallel to each other with certain spaces betweenthem and with the hooked ends of the needles in alignment. Thethread-guide is arranged to pass into the spaces between the needles,and to make a sort of circular sweep about the needle in such manner asto lay the thread across back of the barb or hook, so that the lattercatches it and forms a loop in the operation of knitting. Thethread-guide is a thin piece of metal with a hole in the front end,through which the thread which passes down one side of the guide ispassed through to the opposite side of the guide. If the needles are settoo close together or the ends of the guide enter too far between themthere is danger that the thread will becanght by the hook of the needleover which the thread is being laid or by the hook of the next needle toit, which causes the thread to break out of the guide, thus leaving ahole in the fabric by the dropping of a stitch or of a number ofstitches until the operative tending the machine notices the difficultyand remedies it by rethreading the guide.

The object of my invention is to provide a guide in which this impropercatching of the hook of the barb or needle is entirely obviated.

My invention consists in providing the thread-guide of aknitting-machine with a thread-pocket near the front end, and withinwhich the thread is protected; and it further consists in details of theparts making up the device as a whole, and in the combination of such aguide with the barbed needles, as

more particularly hereinafter described, and pointed out in the claims.

Referring to the drawings, Figure 1 is at'op or plan view of a sectionof a needle-bar of a knitting-machine, showing a number oflatchneedleson enlarged scale and the position of the thread-guide with relation tothe needles when the guides of the prior art are used. Fig. 2 is adetail top view of a bar of latchneedles and the old thread-guide,illustrating themain difficulties that my invention obviates. Fig. 3 isa detail side view, on enlarged scale, of my improved thread-guide,shown in operative relation to a latch-needle. Fig. 4 is a detail topview of the same, illustrating the operation of my improvement. Fig. 5is a detail view in cross-section of my improved guide on enlargedscale.

In the accompanying drawings, the letter a denotes the needle-bar of aknitting-machine; h, a series of needles set in the usual manner side byside in a common plane parallel to each other and with their outer endsin alignment. The needles are latch-needles, terminating each in ahooked end I), that is at times closed by the latch in the operation ofknitting. The threadguides c are of the old construction, and the threadd, while held in a guide, is placed by it across the needle in suchmanner as to cause the needle to engage the thread so as to form a loopin the process of knitting. here the needles are set closely together,as is required for fine work, great care must be exercised that thefront end of the hook does not enter so far between the needles as topress the thread against the needles in such manner as to enable thehook to improperly catch the thread, as is illustrated in Fig. 2 of thedrawings. Such catching of the thread causes the loop (1' to beimproperly formed, so that as the needles retract or the threadguidemoves backward the thread is broken and leaves a hole that may be ofconsiderable length unless the threadgnide is at once rethreaded and theproper connection made to form the line of stitches. In the endeavor toprevent such improper catching of the hooks the mechanism is soarranged, sometimes, that the end of the hook enters but slightlybetween the needles, and the result of this is that instead of catchingthe thread upon the proper hook to form a loop in knitting the threadstrikes the top of the hook back of the pointand slips down off the end,thus drawing the stitch and leaving an opening or pin-holes in thefabric.

The letter 9 denotes my improved threadguide that has formed in its endthat is adapted to be thrust between the needles a thread-pocket e. Thispocket is preferably formed by striking or punching up a portion of themetal, forming a semicircular wall, the pocket extending between twoholes 6 through which the thread 61 is passed in such manner that itlies along in the pocket, so as to be protected by the wall of thepocket on one side against the needle on that side, and by lying in therecess of the pocket escapes any chance of being caught by the needleadjacent to that side, the thread passing through the hole farthest backon the guide, along the pocket, and out through the hole at the front ofthe guide and on the same side of the guide asthat at which it entered.

The essential feature of my inventionconsists in providing, in themanner substantially as described, a covered way or pocket in the end of'the'guide, in which the thread can lie in such manner as to beprotected against any danger of its improperly engaging the hooked endsof the needles on either side of the thread-guide in the operation ofknitting;

I claim as my invention- 1. In a knitting-machine, in combination, anumber of needles arranged in a plane parallel to each other and withspaces between them, and a thread-guide having a path of movementextending into the said spaces and having in the operative end athread-pocket placed lengthwise of the guide and with openings'at itsopposite ends, all substantially as described.

2. In a knitting-machine, a thread-guide formed of thin material with athread-holder and pocket extending between the two perforations throughthe guide at the extremities of the pocket, all substantially asdescribed.

3. In a-knitting-maehine, in combination with a hooked needle,athread-guide formed of thin metal witha thread-pocket consisting of ahollow-recess made in the substance of the guide and with perforationsat its extremities, all substantially as described.

ALTER ROBERTS.

' Witnesses CHAS. L. 'BURDETT, H. E; BACHARACH.

